


Shine Brightly

by KathyRoland



Series: The Paths We Tread [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU, Character Study, Gen, Growing Up, Growing into power, M/M, Self Sacrifice, Spark Stiles, loss of parent, preslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-06 11:30:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11035302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KathyRoland/pseuds/KathyRoland
Summary: He was born into a world that would bring him to power.  He was born to love and kindess and he will walk with secrets and knowledge within himself.  This is how a spark starts to shine.





	Shine Brightly

Stiles is born into a bright and happy world. He is born to his mother’s smiles and his father’s love.

“Mieczyslaw.” His mother murmurs, her lips pressing into his head as he dozes against her breast at the hospital.

“Are you sure? That’s a mouthful…” His father questions gently.

“Yes. This is my Mieczyslaw.”

“Alright. Welcome to the world, Mieczyslaw. We’re so very glad to have you now.” His father lays a gentle hand against his small body and for a while the world is soft and warm and quiet.

When his parents bring him home, they show him every room in the house he will be living in.

"And this is your room, my little starlight." His mother moves around the brightly colored room.  "I hope you enjoy it."

His father stays in the doorway and watches the two most precious beings in his life.  "He will.  He'll love every second of being with us." He promises her.  She knows that this cannot be the truth, but she hopes that they will give her boy the best upbringing he can get.

Later that night as her husband sleeps, Stiles' mother creeps down to the garden.  She calls a rabbit to her her and soothes it as it's heart beats wildly.

She had sharpened her blade, and the creature won't feel pain.  Her boy is going to shine brightest of all and he would need protections.

 

Stiles grows into a precocious boy. He is forever getting into things and asking question upon question.

“Why do trees grow, mama?” He asks as he cranes his head back to look at the redwood.

“Because they love the sun so much they try to reach it, my star.” His mother smiles down at him.

The little boy looks skeptically up at the sun in the sky. “I don’t think they’ll ever get there.”

“Part of life is trying things, even if they don’t succeed.” His mama takes his hand and they continue on the path.

“Why is my name not my name?” He asks another day.

“What do you mean, starling?” His mother is cooking at the stove. She doesn’t look away from the bubbling pot as she reaches up and gathers some dried herbs hanging above her to sprinkle in the soup she is making.

“Well…” He pauses and scrunches up his face as he works out how to word his question. “You named me one thing Meh… MehShlaw…” He stumbles over the complex word.

His mother gently helps him “Meiczyslaw.”

He nods, satisfied. “Yep that. But everyone calls me Stiles. Except you. You call me your star!”

His mother hums as she turns down the heat and finally looks at her son.

“Names have power, starling. Stiles is what you will tell others to call yourself. Meiczyslaw is only for the most important people to you to know and should not be spoken too often. As for you being my star, that is what you are to me. Something I have wished on for many years, something that shines through the darkness.”

As he considers this, she wipes down the counter then crouches down to him.

“Do you want to play legos?”

“Yes!” His face lights up in a grin and he runs towards the living room. His mother follows him at a sedate pace, smiling.  Today, she will teach him some basic runes for guidance and patience.  She has a feeling she will need the extra help.

 

His steps grow bold and his queries grow pointed. Stranger's smiles twist and their attempt at answers stutter around him. Precocious is used less to describe him, sweet almost not at all.

Troublemaker he once overhears a neighbor declare to his mother. She does not refute them.

“Your son needs to learn some manners!” His neighbor Mrs. Grey is at the edge of their lawn and talking with mom.

“Oh?” His mother looks up from her gardening and sets down her trowel to give her full attention to the irritate woman.  She absently notes that the boundary is holding- Mrs. Grey does not cross into their lawn and doesn't seem to notice at all.

Mrs. Grey then starts on a rant about all the impertinent questions Stiles had asked her. His mom nods her head commiserating, but doesn’t say anything. Later that afternoon at his snack, she smooths down his hair.

“Little star, you are hungry for knowledge.”

He smiles up at her, his mouth full of jam and peanut butter.

“Do you want to learn new things?” She tilts her head and studies him as he nods enthusiastically, mouth too full to speak.

“It will have to be a secret, my star. Can you keep a secret?”

Finally swallowing, Stiles grins up at her. “Yes! I can keep a lot of secrets! I want to learn!”

“I know, that’s what makes you so special. Let’s go for a walk. We can start.”

 

As they walk hand in hand down a path in a forest, his mother talks about calling the wind with a whistle and setting a spark with a thought. She talks about responsibilities that those who have power have. She talks about temptation and secrecy and finding someone to complete your heart. She talks about paths that your mind can walk without your body. Stiles listens but doesn’t understand most of what she’s talking about. That’s okay though, he knows that when he grows up he will understand even better when his mom talks to him.

When they finish their walk his mother smiles at him. She sees her little boy but she also sees what he will become. Part of her wants to keep him as he is now, small and sweet and happy in this world. But she also knows that his path will bring him the greatest power of all. She can’t wait for that to happen.

Stiles is a happy child and he basks in his parent’s love. His father may work a lot but when he comes home, he sits down to a dinner and all three of them talk about their days. After that, Stiles and his dad go outside and play ball with eachother. Every night, his father reads to him before sending him off to sleep. The family is small and isolated, but their bonds are deep and strong.

Stiles and his mother talk about many things, none of which he ever reveals to anyone else. He knows something is different in what he learns, but he is too happy to care.  Having secrets is fun.  They draw him closer to his mother.  He feels bad for those who don't know how to listen to the earth.

His whole world is his parents.  His dad is the guardian of their family- Stiles knows that nothing bad will happen with his dad here. He also know that his mom knows everything there is to know in the world. When he grows up, he’s going to be just like her and know everything. He can’t wait.

 

He goes to school for the first time ever and comes home disappointed with a letter from his teacher. His mother laughs it away and his father takes him out to icecream.

At the icecream parlor his father questions him about his day. Stiles talks about the mean children and the teacher that didn’t know stuff like his mom knows stuff. His father nods his head solemnly.

“Sounds like you’re in a pickle.”

Stiles scrunches up his nose. He doesn’t like pickles.

“Maybe tomorrow, just let the teacher teach the other students. They don’t have your mother to tell them everything already so they need Mrs. Davis to tell them these things.”

“But it was boring. She only wanted to say the alphabet, and she didn’t know why the letters are ordered the way they are. She doesn’t know ANYTHING.” He stares morosely at the empty bowl of icecream in front of him.

“Hmm.” His father sits back and considers him. “Well you know your alphabet and you starting to read. Maybe we can go find a book that will tell you about why the letters are ordered that way.”

“So I can find out why ‘A’ is first and ‘Z’ is last?”

“Let’s go to the library and see what we can find.”

Stiles smiles up at his father. He may not know everything like his mom does, but he has the best plans.

“But Stiles?”

“Yes?”

“Tomorrow, I want you to let your teacher teach what she wants to. She went to school to learn how to help all kids, not just you. If you have a question, raise your hand and wait to be called on. If she doesn’t want to answer, keep that question until you come home. Then you can find that answer later.”

Stiles nods his head, accepting this compromise. “Okay dad. Can we go to the library now?”

His dad laughs and stands up.

“Let’s go.”

He may have no friends and his teachers may not him, but he is fine. At home, he reads every book he can get his hands on, even the ones he snuck from his father’s bookshelf that he is not supposed to read.

“Stiles, I found some honey on my training manual.”

He looks up guiltily at his dad. The training manual had been about psychology, which is how peoples brains work when they’re thinking. He knew he wasn’t supposed to read it, but it seemed interesting.

“I wanted to know how to change my brain!”

“Why do you want to change your brain, kiddo?”

“Cause Jasper says that some people have a perfect memory! I want one of those.”

“Hmm. Did the book teach you that?”

“No.” Stiles frowns. “It talked about why bad people do bad things. Did you know a lot of them had bad parents?”

His father nods gravely.

“Why do we lock them up, dad? If you are hurt so much that you need to hurt others, shouldn’t the person who hurt you be punished for making you that way?”

“I think that everyone makes their own choices on what to do. If someone hurts you, they should be stopped from hurting you again. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be stopped from hurting someone else.”

“Oh.” He considers this.

“From now on, I need your promise that you’re not going to read any more of those books in my office, okay? If you’re still interested in them, you can read them when you’re older.”

“Okay dad.”

“Promise?”

Stiles nods gravely. His mother had told him about the importance of keeping your word. He didn’t want to be an oathbreaker. “Promise.”

Unknown to either, Claudia has been listening to them.  Her mind is contemplating Stiles' wish to remember everything.  She knows that so much knowledge is lost because of the brains inability to hold everything.  There is a way, but the price she would have to pay for such a thing...

 

Stiles wakes up to breakfast in the mornings. He goes to school and listens to the teachers teach things he already knows. He watches kids play and sits in the background reading. He walks home from school with his mom and talks to her about secret things. He learns things from his parents that he can’t learn in books. He plays with his father in the evenings.  He wants for nothing.  His life is good.

 

One day he walks home from school alone. His mother never came to pick him up. He walks into an empty house and sits at an empty table.

He sits for a while not knowing what to do with no snack laid out for him. His stomach growls angrily. He thinks of getting out the peanut butter to put on an apple, but he’s not suppose to use a knife and he needs his apple sliced for the peanut butter to be on it.

Bored, he grabs a book and starts to read. He reads until his father comes home to a darkened house and a silent son reading. His father feeds him McDonalds and sends him to bed. Later, he wakes to his father shouting and his mother crying. He dreams again.

Things start to change. He can now dress himself. He chooses his own clothes. This gives the kids at school something more to tease him about, and their jeers start to hurt. He asks his mother about this on their walk, about why their words start to hurt, and she has no answer for him. She doesn’t know.

His mom starts to forget a lot of things. But Stiles remembers so he weaves a crown out of rosemary and gives it to her to wear.

“What’s this, my star?”

“Rosemary is for strong memory.”

“That’s nice of you. Where did you learn that?”

He looks down, feeling completely sad. He is angry at the changing world and scared. He doesn’t know what to do.

His mother no longer cares for what he does. She sometimes forgets to shower and clean herself. Once he came home to her staring at a fire on the stove top. He calls 911 and gets a sticker for being responsible.

His father is home more often. He takes time off from work because he needs to drive his mom to her doctor appointments. He tries to take time for Stiles at each evening, but sometimes he is too tired to do more than sit and listen to his son narrate his day. His mother stares off into a distance that Stiles cannot see. She doesn’t care about him anymore.

His neighbor now watches him with a disapproving look because his mother is going to the doctor a lot. Even when his mother is home, he is watched by Mrs. Grey.

One day his mother doesn’t come home and his dad sits him down and tell Stiles that his mom needs to stay at the hospital now. He nods gravely. His father had prepared him for this, saying that this might happen.

Teachers start sending more letters home. His dad doesn’t laugh them off. Now he has to talk to someone about how he spends his day. He gets questioned on why he doesn’t have a friend. The man, Dr. Sharpe, smiles at him and sits down across from him. He tries to be friendly, but Stiles doesn’t trust him. Sometimes they play a board game together where Stiles has to tell a story with the pieces. Other times Dr. Sharpe watches him make drawings and listens to Stiles tell him about what he’s drawing.

His father grows quiet and sad. His mother grows thin. Her hair falls out. She cries a lot when Stiles comes by. He doesn’t like it.

“You’re trying to kill me.” His mom is crying on the bed. Stiles has been sitting with her since he got dropped off at the hospital from school. He has a book in his hand, but he can’t read. He sits and listens to his mother rant at him.

“You’re not human. You’re an abomination. We all are. You know why I called you a star? Because you need to be burned. We all need to be burned at the stake!”

  
Sometimes she shouts at him. She says nasty things, more hurtful than what any of his classmates could dream of saying. Once a nice nurse was passing by and heard her. The nurse immediately shuffled Stiles out and brought him to a waiting room her another boy, her son was playing. She told Stiles to play a while until she called his father. The boy’s name was Scott and he was in the same class as Stiles. Scott asked if they could be friends. Stiles didn’t need a friend, but he thought if he had one maybe he wouldn’t have to talk to the doctors anymore so he said yes.

After that day, Stiles had to spend each day at the hospital with Scott in a waiting room unless an adult was with him to visit his mom.

Doctor Sharpe is happy that Stiles had a friend finally. But Stiles still has to see him once a week.

His mother stops eating so they put a feed tube in her. She keeps pulling it out so she was put in restraints. Stiles doesn't like to look at her anymore.  This woman who used to smile and tell him secrets now screams and thrashes against her bindings.  It's scary to be in the hospital now.

Stiles once happy dreams have started turning into nightmares. He wake screaming, with his father’s tired presence in the room trying to comfort him.  His dad calms him down and tells him to close his eyes and think happy thoughts.  The happy thoughts don't last very long.

One day his mother dies.

 

She's dead.

 

Stiles didn’t really understand death, but he is told she isn't coming back. Something is in him telling him that he only has to breathe into her and she would wake up again. A primal force surges through him suddenly and the lights flicker as his father holds him.  His dad is crying but Stiles is not.  He wants to go to his mom.  He tries to tell them this, but they won't listen to him. They won’t let him wake her up. Instead, he has to have an extra long session with Dr. Sharpe as his dad “makes arrangements.”

Dr. Sharpe asks him what he kneows about death. Stiles shrugs, and remembers the secrets.

He remembers her talking about a veil on one of their walks.

“Some people can pass through the veil and come back. They are the strongest, or the most cunning, or simply important to those with the power to call them back.”

“Cool!” Stiles had grinned at her, happy at the knowledge that nothing will ever separate them. His mother is powerful, cunning and knowledgeable. She is strong too. The only person stronger than her is his dad.

“But you must remember something, starling. There is always a price to be paid.”  Her face grew sad as she talked about things having a price.

Stiles nodded gravely. They had already talked a lot about prices. Nothing is free, and energy must be spent for it to become something new.

  
The next time he sees her, it isn't his mother. Instead they have replaced her with a rubber body that looks different. It is wearing her favorite dress and her makeup, but it isn’t her. When he tell his dad that, his dad just cries.

He tries telling others that and they shush him. His neighbor kneels down and gently tells him that his mother is in a better place. Stiles doesn't think so. He wonders if she is still at the hospital. Or if she is waiting for him to open the veil. She never told him how to do it himself. He starts crying because he know that she doesn’t remember enough to do it herself.

Eventually, they put the pretend mother in the ground and bury it. Everyone brought them flowers and food. At first, Stiles thinks it was weird that everyone is trying to feed them, but then he quickly realizes the logic in it. His dad has stopped cooking and stopped eating. All he will do is drink a nasty tasting drink. So Stiles learns to heat up food for himself and his father.

Sometimes, his dad gets sad at the reheated food and take them out to fast food. Othertimes, he just stares at his plate and will not eat anything. He never seems to care what Stiles is eating or not at those times. Stiles eats enough so his stomach didn’t growl at him and he cajols his father into taking a few more bites.

  
When the gifted food runs out, Stiles learns to make sandwiches. Later, he learns how to shop for food. The tellers at the grocery store first coo at the little boy holding out money for groceries.  Then he comes back the next week and they find it less amusing.  No one investigates as his father is the sheriff- he loves his boy, the whole town knows it.  They wait for him to snap out of it and see his son.  Stiles is no longer happy. He isn’t carefree, and he now knows the world hurts. His father comes home and drinks and starts crying. If Stiles comes into the room, his father would cry even more and tell Stiles he was sorry for being a bad dad.

Stiles thinks of the forbidden books in his dad’s office. If his dad is a bad dad, then will Stiles be bad?

So he changes himself. He becames a goofy son for his father with smiles and jokes for him when he comes home. When his father was at work, he cleans the house and cooks. People get used to seeing him around town shopping for groceries or picking up his father's dry cleaning.  They say to themselves that the boy has odd ways of coping, but it works.  When Stiles is at school he is Scott’s best friend. He isn’t whole, isn't secure, and isn't happy, but he is good at pretending. Maybe if he pretends good enough, then maybe his mother would come back and life could be the way it once was. If he pretends enough, maybe his dad will become a good dad, and Stiles will be good again.

 

Life goes on and Stiles keeps up his act. He no longer listens to secrets. His mother’s herb garden gets turned into grass. He doesn’t walk paths in the woods and he doesn’t whisper to the wind or listen to the birds call out to the sun. He tries to be normal. When he can’t be normal, he tries to be an acceptable outcast.

He tells everyone he has a crush on the most beautiful girl in school. He acts hyper and odd and is put on medicine for ADHD. He gets good grades and still learns too much on his own. He is unremarkable to everyone who doesn’t matter to him, but to his father and to Scott, he fits into their lives perfectly.

One day he hears about a body in the woods. He brings Scott because he is his best friend on another adventure. He hears something crashing through the woods, and something in him long silent awakens. He doesn’t notice it, but there are a few more colors in the world than were there before. That night, he breathes out a sigh and the wind answers it.

His best friend becomes a werewolf. His best friend finds the love of his life. His best friend has a nemesis- an alpha who made him and who is killing other people. Stiles thinks he knows who it is. He knows why the alpha is killing. The trees in the forest murmur their secrets to him at night. They tell of a man who walked close to them for years, feeding their roots with blood sacrificed to his pack. They tell of pain and burning and vengeance. Something in him approves. But he says nothing. He plays second fiddle to Scott and goes home to cook for his father.

One day he comes face to face with the awakened alpha. Something in him cries out to be completed. He leans forward. But the moment is broken by Derek. His blood still sings for days afterwards.

He starts walking in the woods, recalling each conversation he had with his mother perfectly. He doesn’t need books for his knowledge, as his memory had stored each facet of her knowledge within him. He tells no one this, not the vet with his unasked for guidance, not Scott with his black and white world, and not Derek with his painful earnestness.

Later, he will be offered a gift. He will turn it down, knowing there is a better path.

Later, he will help set the alpha on fire again. He knows it’s not the end. He fades into the background and he waits. Something is growing within him, digging it’s roots deep and reaching towards the sun at the same time.

Stiles will laugh and joke and he will blend in. But at night he will focus on that small spark and he will read forbidden books and he will look toward the future.

  
When Peter comes back to life, Stiles feels almost complete.

 

“Hello again Stiles.”

The others were ignoring them for now, but Stiles knows better than to count on that.

“Hey, creeper wolf. I see you crawled your way up from death. Missed us that much?”

Scott comes and interrupts anything that Peter might have said. Stiles locks eyes with the older wolf and held them even as they flash blue. A slow smirk grows on Peter’s face. Stiles lips quirk up in response.

Scott regales him with how his date with Allison went and starts to whine about homework. Stiles commiserates with him and offers his help. After all, that’s what best friends are for, yes?

Later, Derek tries to order Peter to give up some of his knowledge and time for the pack's newest attempt at countering the threat facing them and Peter just laughs at him.

“You may have the alpha power, nephew,” he sneers at the scowling man with an audience of teens watching on. “But my alpha is long dead. Whose fault is that, hmm?”

Each Hale wolf hears a different meaning in the question.  Peter thinks of black blood and a silent forest.  

Derek flinches and looks away.

 

Scott steps up, squaring his shoulders. “If you’re not going to be a part of this pack, then you should leave. We shouldn’t even have a murderer like you with us.”  He is assured in his righteousness.  

Allison stands in the background, watching and remembering her aunt, her mother. Blame lies heavy in her gaze for anyone she can pin it to that is not herself and her family.

Derek thinks of blonde hair and burning family. He thinks of his sister torn in two and he begins to hate once again.  This hate is toward himself and all who associate with him, the guilty.

Erika and Boyd take it in with watchful eyes, uncertain of their place in this conflict.

Peter smiles at them all, and locks eyes with the silent Stiles.

“I’ve been meaning to go on the road again soon. There’s nothing here for me right now. I do hope at least some of you survive the coming years.” He smiles widely and turns and leaves.

When Peter leaves, Stiles wants to follow, but his self-made duties stop him. After all, the side kick never leaves the hero does he? Still, he can feel that gaze on him burning through his mask.

That night, he goes into his room to find a large book resting on his bed. A handwritten note lays on top of it. Stiles reads the note and smiles. He then reverently opens the book. He has always loved knowledge. And he is good at secrets.

Stiles tends to his father, he supports his best friend, he fights the bad guys that try to do bad things. They win. Scott calls them a pack. Derek relaxes. Allison shines in her goodness. Erica and Boyd become great betas. Deaton presides over them as the giver of knowledge and guides Derrek in his alphahood. And Stiles plays his role to perfection.

 

One day, the pack defeats another evil and his best friend becomes a True Alpha. Stiles congratulates him with empty words. Deaton looks on approving of the machinations coming to completion.

One day, Derek takes his betas and they will leave the place of so much misery to each of them. Stiles acts like he’s sorry to see them go.

“Hey man, don’t be a stranger.” Stiles scuffs his toe in the dirt as he looks at the three about to go.

“Scott can have this place. He’s a great alpha. He’s what Beacon Hills needs. I need to be somewhere else.”

Stiles knows what Beacon Hills needs, and it’s not Scott. But he smiles anyway and waves off the three. He turns his back on the vehicle and prepares to go back home to study some more.

 

One day, Stiles and Scott graduate against all odds.  Scott proposes to Allison and they plan to go to the same college together.

Stiles sends them off with a smile. He tells his father he’s taking a road trip before he picks a college.

“I’ve been through so much, and all in this town. I want to see the country. College will wait a year for me.”

“I understand. Take care of yourself. Call if you need anything.”

They hug tightly. Stiles smiles at his father. “Pay attention to your diet. I have sources that will be watching you.”

His dad laughs.  He knows he is going back to an empty house.  He knows that his son cannot stay shackled to him.  He may not know everything that Stiles has done for him, but he knows more than he will ever acknowledge to himself.  In the back of his mind he wonders what Claudia would say to him. (He found a bloodless rabbit one day.  He looked the other way and never stopped.)

Stiles says his goodbyes to everyone in town and leaves with smiles and waves. He goes searching for knowledge.

He finds it and more. He finds hidden doorways and covered bridges. He talks to fey, goblins, vampires, and witches. His spark is kindled and it grows larger.  
He stays away for four years with excuses to his father.

“I’m not ready.”

“At this point, you never will be.”

“Not everyone does well in college anyway, maybe my path is something else.”

“Just take care of yourself Stiles. Do you have enough money?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve had some luck picking up odd jobs here and there.”

“Okay love you.”

“Love you dad.”

The calls grow less frequent.  Stiles pays for his knowledge with blood, sweat and tears.  Sometimes he pays for it with sex.  He walks under the moonlight and runs under the sunlight.  He sacrifices to the great ones and calls forth unpredictable powers.  A vortex of power seeps into his core and boundaries start to wither away leaving his will unchecked.

When he returns back to Beacon Hills, his power is fully grown. He is no longer a spark but a mage. Deaton looks at him and looks away- he says nothing to him but he knows he will never cross him with words or deeds. Stiles was something the man had never thought could happen, Deaton had thought him unaware and untrained. He sees now his plans will not succeed.

Scott, newly graduated, newly married, with a new pack frowns at his once friend. Stiles no longer cares to pretend.

“Why did you kill her? We were just going to run her off!”

“She would have kept killing even if it wasn’t here in Beacon Hills. There’s a world outside of this town that needs to be protected too!”

“You don’t know that. If given a chance, she could have changed her ways. We’re not supposed to be executioners!”

“You still haven’t learned anything, have you?”

Scott frowns at him. “What’s got into you Stiles? It’s like a you’re a whole different person.”

Stiles walks away.

 

And the one who he has been waiting for is there. Stiles walks into a dinner and sees him waiting for him in an empty booth. Peter smiles at him. Stiles smiles back.

“Hello Mieczyslaw.”

“Hi Peter.”

His path has taken him to this diner. His path has filled him with knowledge and gifted him with power. He is a man grown, brimming with power. And he has found his match. He is ready to shine.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm planning one more story in this series, dealing with Stiles and Peter together finally. Not sure when it will get done, as my break from work ends after today. I'll plug away at it when I have the time. In the meantime, I love any and all feedback and constructive criticism.


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